Today was Kate's birthday party. Kate is a little girl in Hayden's class. She was Sleeping Beauty in the Fairytale Play. (Shhhh, Hayden has a bit of a crush on her) The party was at Millenium Bowl. Hayden had not been bowling so this was an experience. He had a fun time.
Not so patiently waiting our turn
Having birthday cake....
Kate beginning to open Hayden's gift
Hayden scared to watch because she might like his gift. (She did so he was a-okay)
Hayden was thrilled today because he had baseball practice. He could not wait to get out there and play. We are going to have to watch him though because he wants to tell the other kids how to play. Imagine that? Hayden being bossy? Where in the world would he have gottne such a trait?(Mommaw - you can quit laughing now)
He does play defense too, he just does not like it as much!!!!
Hayden was very sad today. We had to leave Arizona and come back home. He sure did not want to leave "his" ballplayers. Here are some photos taken of him with some of those ballplayers.
Hayden and Miguel
Hayden and Freddy
Hayden, Ryan and Bobby
Hayden and Brent
Hayden and Bobby
When we got on the plane headed home, Harold and I asked Hayden if this was the perfect trip. Almost was the reply. Any of you who know Hayden at all and have been around him since he started going to Travs' games, know exactly why it was not perfect and which ballplayer he was missing. (Mommie and Daddy are going to try to make sure he gets to see that ballplayer at least once this season!)
Hayden had such a great time at Spring Training. Monday was no different than any other time there. We spent the day at the Minor League complex and it was fantastic. We got to see an IntraSquad game and Hayden got to hang out with many of "his" ballplayers. The kid was absolutely thrilled.
Waiting on a game to start.
Finally seeing Ryan. Hayden's trip would not have been complete without it.
Telling Mike about striking him out on the Wii game!!
A boy and his hero..........................
Easter Sunday 2008. Hayden was so proud because the Easter Bunny found him in Arizona. He even brought his basket that we had left out at home in North Little Rock. How cool is that? We did not have a church service to go to but we talked about Easter and Hayden explained to us what it meant and what happened. He is so in tune with God and Jesus. Nothing makes us more proud.
Today we saw a Major League Spring Training game. It was fun but it was oh so hot. The Easter Bunny brought Hayden a camera and he had fun trying it out.
Is anyone surprised who he took his first photo of at the ballgame?
After the game, Hayden went swimming. He sure enjoyed the pool at the hotel.
The waterslide at the hotel was too neat as well. (Can you tell we have not set the date and time on the camera? HA)
Today was Hayden's first day of Spring Break. We got up very early and headed out to the airport. We flew into Phoenix for Hayden's very first Spring Training experience. The flight was longer than the three hours that it actually was because every ten minutes Hayden wanted to know if we were close yet. We finally told him that we had passed Phoenix and just did not know where we were going. (I know that is terrible but good grief, you cannot imagine how many times he asked that question)
After we checked into the hotel, we decided to give Dad a little break and Hayden and I went exploring. That, of course, meant we went to Tempe Diablo Stadium.
I worried because I did not know how things would be and what players if any Hayden would get to see. As a Mom, you never want your kid's heart to get broken... I should not have worried.
As soon as we walked up the line of folks waiting on players, Hayden got to see Ervin and then Jared. He was thrilled as you might imagine, however, there was one player he wanted to see more than any other and guess what? Bobby was taking batting practice.
We walked down to the field and I explained to Hayden that he could not yell until Bobby was finished. Surprisingly enough, he listened and waited until Bobby was leaving the field to yell out at him. Gosh, this was one excited kid when he finally got to give Bobby hugs and visit with him. One of the first things he told him was that it had been a LONG time since he had seen him.
Later we walked down to the minor league complex and Hayden saw many, many of "his" ballplayers. Of course, I have no pictures of those first sitings because on our adventure I did not take my camera. (When will I ever learn?)
We went back to the hotel and picked up Dad and went back to Tempe Diablo to see the Triple A squad play a game. Hayden was in a for a big treat because Jeff caught the game and he got to see him. How much more could one little guy stand? Believe me - he was ready for any and all of what came his way. He was in heaven. I did take some photos at the game.
Look how intent. We think if he could be taught school on a baseball field, he would never get in trouble. :-)
Jeff giving Hayden a game used bat. (We had to ship it home. Waiting for it to get here was awfully painful for Hayden. HA)
Hanging out by the dugout.
Looking to see who was in the dugout!
Hayden was absolutely thrilled tonight. It was his first baseball practice of the year. The field was too wet for the kids to take infield but the Coaches hooked up the pitching machine and they all got to bat. (That, of course, is Hayden's favorite thing to do). One of the Travs told him last year that to get to bat you have to play some position so he keeps that in mind too. HA
This kid was so intense. There was no silliness (with the exception of wanting to go first and more often and than any of the other teammates). He was so into the fact that he was finally getting to play baseball.
Pondering homeruns and "gram slams"?
I don't think he is going to like wearing a color other than red this year.
Gotta work on keeping those eyes open when the bat hits the ball. :-)
Taking a few more practice swings while hamming it up for the camera!
